Austrian retailers file antitrust complaint against Amazon at Reuters. “In a statement outlining its complaint, the Retail Association said the “main problem” was Amazon’s dual role as retailer and marketplace…93 percent of all Austrian online shoppers have made at least once purchase on Amazon.” Read more

 

Costco ranked as best large company to work for this year (Home Depot #13) via USA Today. Top 50 list

 

Amazon, Amid Crackdown on Seller Scams, Fires Employees Over Data Leak at Wall Street Journal. “Sellers also are buying Amazon wholesaler accounts on the black market to gain access to volumes of product listings, people familiar with the practice said…Some Chinese firms are selling wholesale vendor accounts for roughly $15,000, or renting them for up to $1,500 a month, the people familiar with the matter said.” WSJ subs.

 

60 Minutes: Screens Change Brain at CBS. “Dr. Dimitri Christakis: So what we do know about babies playing with iPads is that they don’t transfer what they learn from the iPad to the real world, which is to say that if you give a child an app where they play with virtual Legos, virtual blocks, and stack them, and then put real blocks in front of them, they start all over.” Read more/Video

 

Just 100: Companies Doing Right By America (Amazon #30, Target #53) at Forbes. List

 

Amazon targets airports for checkout-free store expansion by Jeffrey Dastin at Reuters. “The lead for Amazon Go requested a meeting,” read a June 27 email from a technology adviser who supports Los Angeles International, the second-busiest airport in the country, to a concessions official. “Interested?” Read more

 

Walmart’s Doug McMillon keeps a list of the top 10 retailers over the decades to remind him you have to innovate and adapt constantly at CNBC. Read more/Video

 

Shoppers Drug Mart granted licence to sell medical marijuana online via Vancouver Sun. “A spokeswoman for Shoppers’ parent company Loblaw Companies Ltd. says it’s too soon to say when people will be able to start making orders. She says the company is still working through a “technical issue” with Health Canada.” Tiered subs.

 

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Amazon reportedly plans to launch its first physical ‘Go’ store outside the US at CNBC. “Amazon is planning its first physical store in the U.K., likely to be in London’s West End shopping district, according to a report in The Telegraph.” Read more

 

‘Aggressive hiring’ and other changes ahead for Lowe’s, CEO says by Katherine Peralta at Charlotte Observer. “Ellison said Lowe’s will continue to invest in information technology, a sector now headed by former Target executive Seemantini Godbole…“We’re going to have some aggressive hiring plans that will impact us in our home location to create some jobs,” Ellison said.” Tiered subs.

 

Downtown L.A.’s burgeoning ‘Sneaker Row’ by Ronald D. White at LA Times. “Called Jumpman L.A., the venture is one in a fast-growing collection of athletic shoe and street wear stores on South Broadway…And Sneaker Row, as the stretch has been nicknamed, is only a portion of the expanding shoe scene downtown. “This part of downtown has really become the sneaker center,” said Brigham Yen, author of the DTLA Rising blog and a real estate broker.” Tiered subs.

 

JD.com teams up with Intel to develop ‘smart’ retail experiences by Jon Russell at TechCrunch. Read more

 

FreshDirect is losing customers over spate of service problems by Lisa Fickenscher at NY Post. “At issue is the high-tech equipment FreshDirect installed at its new, 400,000-square-foot facility this summer. Ever since, sources say, the new gear has suffered a myriad of daily hiccups, from missing or spilled items, trucks that arrive much later than the two-hour window — or not at all…” Read more

 

Here is what Amazon’s Nashville ‘Operations Center of Excellence’ will look like by Sandy Mazza at Tennessean. “The first 20-story tower will rise more than 300 feet above 10th Ave. N., at 1001 Church Street. The second tower will follow, completing the company’s so-called Operations Center of Excellence.” Pics/Read more

 

STARBUCKS BATHROOM WOES – “Letting everybody in has resulted in nobody getting in.” by Steve Cuozzo at NY Post. “Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson declared the open-toilets policy after two black men were infamously arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks…(some bathrooms) were closed for prolonged “cleaning” which an insider said was needed after extreme soiling caused by drug-using, incontinent vagrants.” Read more

 

Analyst doubles down on call that Amazon will buy Target at Business Insider. Read more

 

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